D.C. Pulse: GSA Explores New Professional Services Contracts

GSA Is Looking at a New Generation of Services Contracts: Time to get ready to bid. General Services Administration officials are trying to identify the next generation of contracts for expensive, complex professional services, a growing part of Federal spending. Officials want input on an idea for an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract called “Integrations.” They’re designing Integrations to cover professional services across multiple disciplines, such as program management and consulting services, logistics, financial services and professional engineering services. Federal Computer Week

Senators Want ‘Gold Standard’ Cybersecurity: The United States needs a “gold standard” in cyber-defenses, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) believe. Their goal: to avoid a “digital Pearl Harbor.” The three have proposed legislation to give the Department of Homeland Security authority to work with industry to identify potential risks to the country’s cyber-infrastructure, hoping that more secure techniques, implementations and products would spread to commercial markets. The federal government’s purchasing power would encourage the market to produce more secure products for nongovernment consumers, the senators say. NextGov

Pentagon Readies Cyberspace Operations Strategy: The Pentagon will release this week a much-anticipated cyberspace operations strategy that, despite what some expected, doesn’t call for militarizing the area. The Defense Department will build “active defenses” — such as sensors, software and digital signatures — into military networks in order to detect and stop malicious code before it affects operations. NextGov

LivingSocial Will Try for $1 Billion IPO: D.C.-based LivingSocial, the main competitor to Chicago-based Groupon, has selected banks to underwrite an initial public offering to raise $1 billion. The company signed JPMorgan, Bank of Amercia and Deutsche Bank, though it has yet to file papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Reports say the company is likely to be valued at between $10 billion and $15 billion. Tech Journal South